202 



A Swarm of Spring-tails. 



The inclosed insects were found in the public road, and were dipped up into the 

 bottle just as we send tbeui to you. When turned loose they jump from 3 to 5 

 or 6 inches. At iirst I thought they had wings, but looking at them through the 

 microscope I find no wings, and I can not see any extra legs for jumping. They 

 were in the road in A'ast numbers, several quarts of them, creating the impression 

 that some one had lost a quantity of gunpowder. * * * — [J. S. Wilson, South Car- 

 olina, October 20, 1892. 



Reply. — The insect which you found in jiools of water by the roadside is one of 

 th^ " spring-tails " known scientifically as Achorutes armatus. It is closely related 

 to the so-called "snow flea" {Achorutes nivicola), a species which occurs frequently 

 upon the surface of snow in great numbers in the winter time. The insect jumps 

 not by the aid of its legs, as you seem to suppose, but by means of a spring under the 

 abdomen. These creatures are not injurious to living plants, but feed upon dead 

 and decaying vegetation. — [October 25, 1892.] 



Tame spiders. 



I send specimens of a very handsome spider, with "cocoon" containing eggs. 

 These spiders spin a funnel-shaped web, behind which they remain concealed until 

 some unwary insect enters, when they spring out. They are very handsome, with 

 their striped legs and reddish body spotted with white. This one is very tame. For 

 months it has lived over the head of my bed, allowing me to examine it. When it 

 began to get uneasy I placed it in a box, where it spun a beautiful covering for its 

 eggs. I am A^ery jiartial to spiders, and never destroy one nor its web unless I am 

 compelled to do so. In my own room I let them have full sway. There are probably 

 fifty spiders there now and they never molest me. I find them all over the bed 

 clothes. I believe the stories of their poisonous bites to be largely exaggerated. 

 We have here those large, black spiders mentioned by John March in Insect Life 

 for August, 1892 (vol. iv, p. 398). I found one of them curled up under my baby's 

 neck one morning. This one did not attempt to fight, but if prodded with a stick 

 they will fight back.— [Mrs. M. E. Rice, Pennsylvania, October 15, 1892. 



Note. — The spider sent is Epeira tri/olium Hentz. 



NOTES FROM CORRESPONDENTS. 



A new Bark-louse on Orange. — We have received from Mr. Coquillett, Los 

 Angeles, Cal., specimens of a new species of the genus Pseudococcus, which was 

 found upon Orange at Riverside, Cal., by Dr. Claflin. The same gentleman also 

 found specimens of this same insect both above and below ground on Solatium doug- 

 lasi growing in the vicinity of the orange tree upon which the other specimens 

 were found. As soon as we succeed in getting a good series illustrating all stages 

 we may describe the species. 



Damage to Cigars in Brazil and the West Indies. — Mr. Herbert H. Smith, who 

 has spent many years in collecting in South America and Mexico, informs us that 

 some insect does a vast amount of damage to cigars in Brazil and the West Indies. 

 Having never seen the insect he is unable to identify the species, but states that it 

 bores into the cigars, riddling them with holes of about the diameter of a No. 3 Kla- 

 ger pin. 



■ This insect is in all probability Lasioderma serricorne, the so-called "Cigarette 

 Beetle," a cosmopolitan species of miscellaneous food-habits, but best known as a pest 



